Nintendo has numerous profitable franchises that have been the basis of many fans’ childhoods such as Mario, Kirby, The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, Pokémon” and many more. One franchise, however, stands out among the others as a celebration of the gaming industry’s past, present and future. That franchise is none other than, Super Smash Bros.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate alone has a base roster of 74 fighters but has six additional DLC fighters and is confirmed to have another six fighters in production making a total of 86 fighters in one game! So far, Ultimate’s six DLC are Piranha Plant from Nintendo’s Super Mario franchise, Joker from Atlus’s Persona 5, The Hero from Square Enix’s Dragon Quest franchise, Banjo and Kazooie from Rare’s Banjo- Kazooie franchise, Terry Bogard from SNK’s Fatal Fury franchise and Byleth from Nintendo’s Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Each fighter adds something new to the game in terms of play style and weapon choice. Not every fighter was met with fan approval, though, specifically Byleth.

Many bought the pass (or in my case, were given a code for free) before every fighter was revealed thinking that they would be content with whomever Nintendo had picked. Much to many fans’ dismay, Byleth, was not someone they were hoping for. Byleth marks the second new representative from the Fire Emblem” franchise in Ultimate and the eighth representative from the franchise overall which has led to some anger. Most of them have a sword for a weapon, as well as having what is referred to as a “counter” move, which essentially negates incoming damage and turns it against the dealer. Byleth was not spared, even with its unique ability to use different weapons and the lack of a counter. Currently, Byleth’s reveal trailer is the most disliked trailer for the game yet ,which sparked a response from the game’s director Masahiro Sakurai, to which he said, “There are too many Fire Emblem characters. And too many swordsmen. But when something’s decided, I move ahead with it… New fighters aren’t decided by my preference, but are put forward by Nintendo.”